The Australian Academy of Science welcomes the release of Australia 2030: Prosperity Through Innovation plan, prepared by Innovation and Science Australia.

The 2030 Plan correctly identifies the importance of taking a strategic approach to developing our national STEM capability, and makes a number of constructive recommendations, such as strengthening training for pre- and in-service teachers, better preparing students for post-school STEM occupations, and lifting student outcomes in literacy and numeracy (which should include the STEM disciplines).

The Academy has developed and is delivering a number of school education (Primary Connections, Science by Doing and ReSolve: Maths by Inquiry) programs targeting both students and teachers, which if scaled up will fulfil objectives of the 2030 Plan.

The Academy’s President, Professor Andrew Holmes, said recommendations to establish a dedicated stream of funding for translational activity and a ‘collaboration premium’ on R & D tax incentives are also particularly important.

“Such arrangements are likely to be crucial for research funding over the coming decade, with the 2030 plan projecting government spending on R & D rising to almost 0.7 per cent of GDP out to 2030, with business R & D spending rising from 1 per cent of GDP to 1.7 per cent of GDP over the same period,” Professor Holmes said.

“It is imperative that Australia does better in translating research discoveries into commercial products and services. However this priority cannot be achieved without building our national capability in basic research to underpin the translation process.  

“Australia’s most commercially successful innovations have commenced as basic research aimed at the public good. This includes Wi-Fi, penicillin, the cochlear implant, polymer bank notes, and many other examples,” Professor Holmes said.

The Australian Government must also continue to invest in national research infrastructure. The Academy recently welcomed the commitment to fund the National Computational Infrastructure facility, and looks forward to the Government’s investment strategy to fund the Chief Scientist’s National Research Infrastructure Roadmap.

The Academy also welcomes the recommendation to maintain a long-term policy commitment to greater gender diversity. The Science in Australia Gender Equity (SAGE) pilot, a national program promoting gender equity and gender diversity in science, technology, engineering, mathematics and medicine (STEMM) is aiming to deliver a sustainable business model for an ongoing SAGE program, at the conclusion of the pilot in mid-2019.  SAGE is a joint program between the Academy and the Australian Academy of Technology and Engineering (ATSE), funded by the Government under the National Innovation and Science Agenda.

The Academy also welcomes the 2030 Plan’s proposal for so-called “National Missions” to make Australia the healthiest place in the world in particular, a genomic medicine project, which the Academy recommended in its submission to the 2030 plan.

The Academy is also calling for a National Mission on Brain Health, emphasising research and outcomes in neuroscience and neurotechnology. A National Mission on Australia’s Hidden Minerals, to better identify and harvest valuable mineral resources currently beyond our capacity to reach, would play a critical role in promoting Australia’s future economic prosperity.

The Australian Academy of Science congratulates its 10 Fellows who are among the 895 Australians recognised in the Australia Day 2018 Honours List.

Four Fellows received the highest honour, each appointed a Companion in the General Division of the Order of Australia (AC), for ‘eminent achievement and merit of the highest degree in service to Australia or to humanity at large.’

Companion of the Order of Australia (AC)

Professor Jennifer Martin—For eminent service to science, and to scientific research, particularly in the field of biochemistry and protein crystallography applied to drug-resistant bacteria, as a role model, and as an advocate for gender equality in science.

Professor Trevor John McDougall—For eminent service to science, and to education, particularly in the area of ocean thermodynamics, as an academic, and researcher, to furthering the understanding of climate science, and as a mentor of young scientists.

Emeritus Professor Lewis Mander—For eminent service to science through pioneering contributions to organic chemistry in the field of plant growth hormones, to higher education as an academic, researcher and author, and to national and international scientific societies.

Professor Ezio Rizzardo—For eminent service to scientific technological research and development in the field of polymer chemistry, to its application in the biomedical, electronics and nanotechnology context, as an author, and through mentorship roles.

Officer of the Order of Australia (AO)

Professor Martin Banwell—For distinguished service to science education as an academic, author and researcher, particularly in the field of synthetic organic chemistry, to scientific institutes, and as a mentor of emerging scientists.

Emeritus Professor Michael Barber—For distinguished service to higher education administration, and in the field of mathematical physics, particularly statistical mechanics, as an academic and researcher, and through contributions to science policy reform.  

Laureate Professor Scott Sloan—For distinguished service to education, particularly in the field of geotechnical engineering, as an academic and researcher, to professional associations, and as a mentor of young engineers.

Member of the Order of Australia (AM)

Dr Robin Bedding—For significant service to science in the field of entomology as a researcher, and to the forestry industry both nationally and internationally. 

Professor Sharad Kumar—For significant service to medical research in the field of cancer and cell biology, as a scientist and author, to medical education, and as a mentor.

Dr Hugh (Cecil) Tyndale-Biscoe—For significant service to science in the field of marsupial reproductive biology and ecology, as a researcher and mentor, and to professional societies.

Academy President Professor Andrew Holmes said he was delighted to see that a large number of Australia's best scientists have been recognised through the Australian Honours system.

“I congratulate them for their creativity and scientific integrity,” Professor Holmes said. 

“They are our scientific heroes and this recognition, together with that of Australian of the Year, Michelle Simmons, and Senior Australian of the Year, Graham Farquhar, gives us all great hope and optimism for the future, as well as much pleasure for the present.”

Anyone can nominate any Australian for an award in the Order of Australia. If you know someone worthy, nominate them now.

More about the 2018 Australian of the Year awards

The Australian Academy of Science welcomes newly appointed Assistant Minister for Science, Jobs and Innovation, Senator Zed Seselja, and congratulates Minister Michaelia Cash on her appointment as Minister for Jobs and Innovation.

While welcoming the appointments Academy President Professor Andrew Holmes said it was disappointing to see science removed from the title of the Ministerial portfolio and assigned to the outer Ministry.

“Science is a critical driver of innovation; it underpins around one quarter of Australia’s GDP, and more than one million jobs are in science-based industries,” he said.

“Placing the science portfolio in the outer ministry is inconsistent with the Turnbull Government’s National Innovation and Science Agenda which placed both science and innovation at the heart of Australia’s policy agenda.

“The Academy looks forward to working with Minister Cash and Assistant Minister Seselja to ensure Australia continues to benefit from a strong and stable science sector.”

The Academy also acknowledged the leadership and contribution of Senator Arthur Sinodinos as Minister for Science and Innovation.

“The science sector deeply appreciated Senator Sinodinos’ commitment to science and innovation, his willingness to engage with and understand issues facing the sector and his leadership of the National Innovation and Science Agenda,” Professor Holmes said.

“We wish Senator Sinodinos well as he continues his treatment.”

A generous donation to the Academy from the University of Queensland will continue to support female early-career researchers working in the Earth sciences.

The gift also helps secure the future of the Academy’s Dorothy Hill Medal, established as an award in 2002 in honour of the late Professor Dorothy Hill AC CBE FAA FRS, a pioneer for women in science.

Professor Hill became Australia's first female professor in 1959 when she was appointed Professor of Geology at the University of Queensland. Professor Hill also became the first Australian female Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science (1956) and the Royal Society of London (1965), and the first female President of the Academy (1970).

Seventeen female early-career researchers have received awards, with Associate Professor Tracy Ainsworth from James Cook University the latest recipient. Her research has improved our understanding of how stress responses and diseases occur in corals.

She has also discovered that while small increases in sea temperatures negatively impact the health of corals, under the right circumstances corals can acclimate to increased sea temperatures and survive the bleaching process.

Professor Hill continues to be an inspiration and a role model for scientists in the Earth sciences, particularly early-career women. Professor Hill’s achievements and leadership are as relevant today as they were throughout her ground-breaking career.

The Dorothy Hill Medal in earth sciences provides support and an invaluable opportunity to showcase the research of women in the Earth sciences. Through the support of the University of Queensland, this medal will continue to recognise the achievements of leading early-career female Earth scientists.

More about Professor Dorothy Hill and the Dorothy Hill Medal. 

Find out more about supporting the Academy

The Australian Academy of Science welcomes the Australian Government’s commitment to fund a much-needed upgrade to Australia’s national supercomputer in today’s Mid-Year and Economic Fiscal Outlook (MYEFO).

The National Computational Infrastructure has received $69.2 million funding in 2017–18 and $0.8 million in 2018–19.

Secretary for Science Policy at the Academy, Professor David Day, said a new supercomputer is a critical piece of Australia’s economic, social and scientific infrastructure.

“This technology is vital for weather forecasting, health and medical research, climate change modelling, hazard management and ocean-safety,” Professor Day said. 

“The new supercomputer will allow Australian scientists to continue to tackle complex challenges which would be impossible, unwieldy or inefficient without a supercomputer.”

The Academy also welcomes confirmation of $50 million funding for the Australian Brain Cancer Mission to improve the survival rates of people living with brain cancer, $70 million to support Australia’s next generation of medical research fellowships; and $30 million to support Australia’s biomedical technology sector.

The Academy remains concerned about the potential impact of the higher education measures on both the pipeline of STEM graduates and vital research that is undertaken in Australian universities.

Australian scientists researching emerging mosquito-borne diseases, drug resistant tuberculosis and childhood type 1 diabetes are among the latest recipients of 2018–19 Australia–India Early- and Mid-Career Researcher (EMCR) Fellowships announced today by the Australian Academy of Science.

The EMCR Fellowships are part of the Australia–India Strategic Research Fund (AISRF), a platform for bilateral science collaboration jointly managed and funded by the governments of Australia and India.

Under the program, Australian researchers are awarded up to A$40,500 to travel to India and work with leading researchers at major Indian science and technology organisations for between three to nine months. The total amount awarded for the 14 recipients awarded Fellowships in this latest round is $282,908.

Assistant Minister for Industry, Innovation and Science, Craig Laundy, welcomed the Fellowships.

“They give high-performing Australian researchers exciting opportunities to work with fellow scientists at leading Indian research institutions and to engage with a rising science superpower early in their careers,” Assistant Minister Laundy said.

“The Australian Government has committed more than $80 million to the AISRF since 2006 in recognition of India’s increasing prominence in the global research effort.”

President of the Academy of Science, Professor Andrew Holmes, said the Fellowships are designed to facilitate long-term science, technology and innovation collaboration between the two countries.

“Among this year’s recipients is Deakin University’s Dr Rangam Rajkhowa who is returning to India in 2018 after receiving his first Australia–India Early Career Fellowship in 2012,” Professor Holmes said. 

Dr Rajkhowa is researching 3D printed functional composites, made from protein fibre particles, for biomedical applications. He will be collaborating with scientists at the Indian Institutes of Technology in Guwahati and Delhi.

See the list of successful recipients and more information about the awards.

A meeting of representatives of some of the world’s major brain research projects, hosted by the Australian Academy of Science in Canberra, has made a declaration to establish an International Brain Initiative.

The declaration, made by representatives from Japan, Korea, Europe, the United States of America and Australia, is designed to speed up progress on ‘cracking the brain’s code’.

‘Researchers working on brain initiatives from around the world recognise that they are engaged in an effort so large and complex that even with the unprecedented efforts and resources from public and private enterprise, no single initiative will be able to tackle the challenge to better understand the brain,’ according to the declaration.

Academy President, Professor Andrew Holmes, said the announcement of an International Brain Initiative was one of the most exciting days of his presidency to date.

‘It is very pleasing to see a global commitment to stronger collaboration on brain research. Challenges of this magnitude need a global effort,’ Professor Holmes said.

The first meeting of the International Brain Initiative steering committee will be held in January 2018. Brain research initiatives from other countries and regions are also invited to join the International Brain Initiative.

Read the ‘Canberra Declaration’ to create an International Brain Initiative

There’s nothing like fully immersing yourself in a good book—so what do Australia’s top scientific minds recommend you read this holiday season?

The Australian Academy of Science’s second Annual Christmas Reading List, released today, contains 31 favourite reads submitted by the Academy’s Fellows.

Academy Chief Executive Ms Anna-Maria Arabia said while some Fellows recommend good reads for exploring science, there are plenty of suggestions for escaping it altogether.

‘Avid readers may find a few surprises not typically included on a holiday reading list,’ Ms Arabia said.

The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu, Joshua Hammer
Recommended by Professor Georgia Chenevix-Trench. ‘I knew there were a lot of important ancient manuscripts in Timbuktu, but I had no idea of the scale, and age of them. The book describes one man’s attempt to recover thousands of them from outlying districts and the race to save them from Al-Qaeda, including shipping them down river on pirogues to Djenne to be picked by taxis and re-hidden in Bamako.’

Sand, Wolfgang Herrndorf
Recommended by Professor Bryan Williams. ‘This is an engrossing read. It is a thriller, a conundrum and a comedy of circumstances. The concise chapters are headed by quotes from a wide array of literary figures that entice the reader to make the connection.’

Cold Light, Frank Moorhouse
Recommended by Professor Wendy Hoy. ‘The essence of the fledgling Canberra, its institutions and personalities; issues of gender and identity and empathy for the human condition; superbly intelligent and insightful.’

The Siege, Arturo Pérez-Reverte
Recommended by Professor David Black. ‘During the siege of Cadiz in 1811, a serial killer is on the loose, and to find the murderer, the police commissioner perceives the city as a vast chessboard trying to predict his unknown opponent’s next deadly move. Any novel by this author can be recommended, and the translations from Spanish are excellent.’

Fellows also recommend:

• Endurance, Alfred Lansing—recommended by Professor Nalini Joshi
• Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind, Yuval Noah Harari—recommended by Professors Boris Martinac and Geoff Fincher
• Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, Robert Pirsig—recommended by Professor Igor Bray
• Radio Astronomer: John Bolton and a New Window on the Universe, Peter Robertson—recommended by Professors Robyn Williams and Joss Bland-Hawthorn
• The Glass Universe, Dava Sobel—recommended by Professor Brian Schmidt

Read the complete Annual Christmas Reading List.

A collection of videotaped biographical interviews with more than 130 important figures in clinical medicine and science from the United Kingdom and Australia—including several Academy Fellows—is now available online.

The Medical Sciences Video Archive of the Royal College of Physicians and Oxford Brookes University has converted tapes to digital format and made them freely available on the Research and Digital Asset Repository.

The video archive is a collection of interviews created between 1985 and 2002 and initiated by Dr Max Blythe of Oxford Polytechnic (now Oxford Brookes University).

Academy Fellows interviewed include Alan Wardrop, Derek Denton, Max Day, James Lance, Mollie Holman, Donald Metcalf, Gustav Nossal, Gordon Ada, Bridget Ogilvie and Frank Fenner.

The archive is aiming to add transcripts and interactive indexes, to allow users to jump to particular parts of the interview, over the next year.

Academy resources

The Academy publishes substantial resources about Fellows on its website in addition to their citation at year of election. See its biographical memoirs (from Historical Records of Australian Science) and interview transcripts.

The December 2017 issue (Volume 28 Number 2) of the Academy’s journal, Historical Records of Australian Science, is now available. This issue contains five articles on the history of Australian science, four biographical memoirs of Fellows, and a selection of book reviews.

The historical articles include an account of the involvement of a physics professor in the development and use of the new medium—radio—in the 1920s and 1930s, a detailed review of the life and work of Australia’s first professor of biochemistry, T. Brailsford Robertson, and further details of the career of nineteenth-century plant scientist, Hermann Beckler.

Perhaps the most significant articles are by those who made their careers in CSIRO studying the influence of greenhouse gases on Earth’s atmosphere. The articles explore the modest beginning of the program, its increasing sophistication as the importance of the phenomenon became more apparent, and the way in which the results obtained have been integrated into a global research effort. The CSIRO work with other greenhouse gases will be covered in future articles.

The biographical memoirs published in this issue honour the contributions of mathematician Peter Hall, geologist Bruce Chappell, marsupial biologist Geoff Sharman and chemist David Craig. Craig’s memoir has also been published by the Royal Society, of which he was a Fellow.

Fellows’ access to the journal is free via a link on the Fellows’ page of the Academy website (requires log-in).

Virtual issue and online early

In a new development for the journal, the publisher and editors brought together articles and biographical memoirs from past issues that described the careers of nine Australian women scientists. This ‘virtual issue’ was made available without charge for three months to coincide with the Science in Australia Gender Equity (SAGE) conference in September.

Another strategy to make the journal more noticeable and accessible was to create the category of ‘online early’ publications. Once editorial processing had been completed, six articles were made available through the website so that they could be accessed before the formal publication of the journal issue. One of these, the biographical memoir of Bruce Chappell, was made available without charge for a month to participants in a conference on granite geology. This was the field in which Chappell was a world leader.

Change to publication months

From 2018, the journal will be published in January and July each year rather than June and December.